Why I love languages!

Whenever people asked me why I am multi-lingual, it made me think of my beloved papa and second brother. Papa was proficient in Chinese. In fact, he was a teacher of Chinese Language and Literature. He was also a good writer. Papa had some basic lessons in English and later, he studied the language on his own.

One morning, on our way to our regular morning walk at Bukit Dumbar Reservoir in Penang, Papa said to me, "Choo, listen to papa's speech. Tomorrow night, papa had to make a speech to introduce the guest singer, Ivy Ling Po. I was then in Primary Six. Wow! I felt so honoured that papa wanted me to hear his speech and to help him improve. How I wish I were a toastmaster then! "Ladies and Gentlemen!", papa began, his face beaming with joy. On behalf of the Green Parrot Nightclub, I want to welcome the famous and popular actress and movie star, Ivy Ling Po. I felt papa's great presence. He had such an enormous and charming personality that everyone could forgive him for the less than perfect pronunciation of English.

Seeing papa's love and enthusiasm for languages, I decided that I too would follow in his footsteps. He was a voracious reader and best of all, was a great story teller.

Second Brother Kee Seng studied in the Chinese medium school. Hence, he is more proficient in Chinese than in English or Malay. However, he was determined to improve his languages. He loves the dictionary and very often, you could see him pouring over English, Chinese, Malay and Japanese dictionaries. I can still remember the tiny dictionary that brother bought for me. It was only 1 inch by 1 inch. Yet the print in the pages was very clear. Later, brother also bought me an encyclopaedia. It became my prized possession.

Hence, now my readers and friends can understand where my motivation comes from. I was privileged to study French in Canada, a language I had never heard before in my hometown. My friends thought I was very brave to take up French and to compete with the Canadian students who had already studied the language while in high school. French is such a beautiful and refined language. I love the French word for mother-in-law. It is "belle mere" which translated literally, means, "Beautiful mother!" Isn't it wonderful to have a daughter-in-law addressing you as her beautiful mother even when you are ninety, bald and toothless?

To me language is like music to my ears. I love the sound and rythmn found in different languages. Every language is so unique. Apart from Mandarin, I find that Swahili, Hindi and Nepali are quite musical too.

I wonder why the Koreans must make their life so difficult by using so many words. For eg. for the word "good night" we say "bonuit" in French, "Selamat Malam" in Malay, "Wan ahn" in Mandarin. The Koreans say, "Ahn nyong hi ju mu sip si yo." I guess by the time we complete saying good night, the other person would have fallen asleep! I guess that is the beauty of a language that is verbose yet beautiful in its own characteristics. I remember when I first heard Korean being spoken by our Korean staff, I was overwhelmed for they spoke so rapidly and it sounded like the roaring of the wind! Now I understand that with so many words, the Koreans have to speak somewhat rapidly.

In my next article, I will write about the benefits of being able to speak another foreign language.

Gan Chau